Populism and Performance in the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela breaks new ground in explaining how supporters of Venezuela’s emergent socialism negotiated terms of national belonging and participatory democracy through performance. By foregrounding populism as an embodied act, Marino draws attention to repertoires of populism that contributed to what is arguably the most impactful social movement in the Americas since the Cuban Revolution. 

Based on ethnographic and archival research, Marino focuses on performances of the devil figure, tracing this beloved trickster through religious fiestas, mid-century theater, film, and other media as it both antagonizes and unifies a movement against dictatorship and neoliberalism. Marino then demonstrates that performance became a vehicle through which cultural producers negotiated boundaries of inclusion and exclusion in ways that overcame the simplistic logic of good versus evil, and us versus them. The result is a nuanced insight to the process of building political mobilization out of crisis and through monumental times of change.
 

Performance and Populism will interest readers of Latin American politics, cultural studies, political science, and performance studies by providing a vital record of the revolution, with valuable insights into its internal dynamics and lessons towards building a populist movement of the left.

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PUBLISHED BY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY PRESS 2018.